Asgardian History
Origin Their origins are shrouded in myth, making it difficult to nail down the truth of all of the stories written about them. At first in the universe there was nothing but the primordial abyss of nothingness known as Ginnungagap. Millions of years ago warm air from the realm of fire, Muspelheim, crossed a dimensional barrier into the location of the magical Well of Life, Tons of ice from Niffleheim, the realm of ice and cold, formed above the Well of Life. It was said that in time the warm air from Muspelheim caused these tons of ice over the Well to transform into the living, sentient Ymir. Another being appeared from the ice, the enchanted cow Audumla. She was allegedly conceived from Ymir's melting, but possibly was Gaea in one of her many guises. She eventually found Buri, His exact origin is blurry, with multiple versions: * According to the legend, he was delivered from the ice by the magic cow licking it, the hair the first day, the head the second day, and Buri itself the third. * Other accounts state he emerged from the ice by himself. * Another legend states Amdula licked his form from an ice block. * He was also stated to be Ymir's son by Doctor Strange. * According to the book "A guide to Norse Religion", Buri was born at Ginnungagap the same way and along Ymir. Reign of Buri Intrigued, the Giants allowed Buri to live. Buri grew wise and strong and took a Frost Giantess as wife, and had three sons: Bor, Mimir and Njord. Reign of Bor When Buri abdicated the throne, it left Bor as the ruler of Asgard. A born warrior, he led his people in a time of power and prosperity and won their loyalty both through his leadership and also through his triumphs on the field. He was one of the Gods who had created the Universe, and along with his other accomplishments was an unquestionable and powerful ruler. Bor founded Asgard, home of the Aesir, Buri went to live recluse as "Tiwaz" in the northern reaches of Asgard , in Nastrond, living among ephemerous servants he created by sculpting ice and animated with life. His other son Njord left to found Vanaheim and sire the Vanir. Bor in turn took a wife (the giantess Bestla) and fathered his sons. Bor took the giantess Bestla as his wife, and wed her. They had four sons, Cul, Vili, Ve and Odin who would be Bor's heirs - although Cul would be forgotten until much later. When Odin was born, Bor paid him special attention, grooming him to one day take his place as King. He taught Odin how to fight, how to rule, how to serve, and also how to defend his dreams. Yet he didn't encourage his son to dream on his own, and when Odin went against him he was driven to rage. When Odin created man, not being able to undo his son's actions, in his anger Bor visited every possible horror imaginable upon them. After Bor's death, Odin challenged and bested Buri as well. Reign of Odin According to myth and legend, Vili, Ve, and Odin journeyed into the realm of the Fire Giant Surtur when they were younger. Vili and Ve sacrificed themselves to allow Odin to escape from Surtur's realm. Upon their deaths, Odin's own godly attributes were increased as a result of his brothers' powers joining with his. Odin once battled an unbelievably powerful cosmic storm called the God Tempest when it threatened Asgard. Odin defeated the God Tempest and sealed it away into a chunk of Uru that would one day be forged into the mighty hammer Mjolnir. War of the Serpent Odin and his brothers then at some point faced Surtur, in a conflict in which Villi and Ve seemed to die. Odin fathered other Asgardians, but at some point, Asgard and its enemies fell in the first Ragnarök. Out of this emerged Those Who Sit Above in Shadow, beings who fed on the continual reincarnation of the Asgardians and Ragnaroks. Buri, going into seclusion, remained apart from this cycle. Aesir/Vanir War Aesir and Vanir eventually became rivals. A generation ago as Gods perceive time, the young king Odin of the Aesir tried to force the union of the two tribe, and went to war with Freyr and the people of Vanaheim. Seemingly over a matter of pride, Freyr refused to bend, and received support from Surtur of Muspelheim. The war ultimately ended with a peace treaty and marriage between the two royal families, as Odin was betrothed to Freyr's daughter Freyja. Their union marked the union of the two people. No matter the peace, and despite the fact that the records of the war were destroyed, a certain grudge existed among the Vanir towards the Aesir and Asgard remained, even beared by Njord, who despised Odin's race. Although, Vanir and Aesir mixed, and couples were wed at the Temple of Union. Stone Age Midgard (1,000,000 BC) At some point, Odin went to Midgard (which was called Aesheim at the time) According to legend he created the two first humans, Aske and Embla, but the Eternals have no records of them, while the Celestials might. Bor was ill-pleased and afflicted them with suffering. Initially struggling to control Mjolnir, Odin befriended a number of mystically-empowered prehistoric humans, forming the Stone Age Avengers to defend Earth from threats like the out-of-control Celestial known as the Fallen. Odin wanted to nail the Fallen's corpse to the Moon as a warning to other Celestials, but instead he and the Avengers sealed the Fallen in an underground chamber in the modern-day country of South Africa. He entered into a romantic relationship with his comrade Lady Phoenix, who survived for longer than any of their comrades. The cosmic entity the Unbeing, while impersonating the other cosmic entity Origin, claimed that Origin had directed the Asgardians to seek out Earth. During Midgard Prehistory, Asgardians used to mistreat the Earth-Folk. In order to protect them, Odin secretly hired the Angels of Heven, the Tenth Realm, to protect the humans from the Gods. War of Angels The Queen of Angels was paid by the Jotuns to devise a strategy against the Asgardians, causing the alliance of all Asgard's enemies. She offered Odin to pay her to betray them in return and abort the war, an offer Odin refused, leading to war. During the Final Battle, the Queen seemingly killed Aldrif Odinsdottir, royal heir of Aesir and Vanir blood. In retaliation, Odin had the Heven separated from the other Nine Realms and sealed in their space, and Freyja had their dead always headed to Hel as a race of slaves for Hela. With Aldrif's apparent death, no royal heir was known, meaning that the Aesir and Vanir remained two conjoined tribes instead of a single one. After that loss, Freyja was unable to want another child. Thurian Age The worship of the Asgardians by human beings began at some point after 18,500 BC. The first vampire, Varnae, immune to post-Thurian era gods, once stated that he saw the Asgardians emergence: "I watched and snickered as your savage ancestors gnawed their civilization from the bones of the old gods." Hyborian Age Circa 10,000 BC, Woden (an alternate name for Odin) and other deities were frequently invoked by human beings, and there existed a culture of the Nordheimr, whose people called themselves the Vanir and Aesir. The Nordheimr also worshiped Ymir and his first daughter, Atali. They continued to do so up to roughly 8,000 BC when harsh events forced many Nordheimr, such as Niord Worm's Bane to migrate to the Vilayet Sea, which became the Caspian Sea. These migrating Nordheimr became the ancestors of the Aryans. The First Ragnarok The periodic cycle of Ragnaroks continued for thousands of years. The story of one such cycle, as told to Thor by a giant eye claiming to be the severed eye of Odin, was supposed to have happened around 7 BC to a version of Asgard with a red-haired Thor. Their counterpart of Odin was also known as Wode and was worshiped by the Franks in the area that later became Bavaria. The Franks held sacrificial jousts in which those warriors slain would gain the honor of joining Wode on the Wild Hunt in the sky. This Asgard went down in flames; according to the eye, Asgard's destruction served as part of the phenomenon later called the Star of Bethlehem which attended the birth of the Christian/Muslim prophet Jesus of Nazareth. Vidar, Balder, Hoenir, Vali, Vili, Ve, Modi and Magni (Thor's sons), and a few other gods of this incarnation of Asgard who survived this Ragnarok emerged to find the spear of the prior Odin. Grasping it, they were transformed/merged into a new Odin, who again created a new Asgard. Accounts differ as to whether the new Asgardians actually had childhoods or Odin implanted them with false memories of pasts and childhoods that never happened. At some point before the birth of the current Thor, Odin thwarted the rebellion of Rimthursar. Evidently, memories of the past Asgard remained among men, as a man around 200 AD in Britain invoked Woden and Thor. Birth of Thor Odin grew tired of the Ragnarök cycle and decided to end it once and for all. He joined with the Earth-goddess Gaea to produce the latest version of Thor. War with Jotunheim Odin marched his forces into Jotunheim to battle the Frost Giants, a future Loki came to his young past-self to ensure their destiny. The younger Loki went to his father with alleged information about Odin's position in the next battle, and pushed Laufey to attack him by calling out his pride. Laufey struck his son but decided to attack Odin, as planned by the Lokis. The next day, after the fateful battle and Odin's claiming of Loki as a son, Laufey was left for dead, wounded, but alive. The future Loki then gruesomely killed him, stating that he would never strike him again. Thor's Adventures Thor would have many adventures, facing Marduk Grylak, Varnae, Dromedan, and Atlantean mummies animated by Loki. Thor adopted the mortal Thialfi for Asgard's court. Age of Vikings The Asgardians greatest worshipers were the Vikings, Norse seafaring humans active, during the late 8th to late 11th century. They operated in the regions of Scandinavia, Northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland and the British Isles. The Vikings later converted to Christianity and the Asgardians withdrew from Midgard. 10th Century Third Host In 1000 AD, the Third Host of the Celestials occurred, during which the aliens informed they would return 1,000 years later to judge Earth's right to continue existing. Odin attended the Council of Godheads meeting to discuss this threat. 11th Century During the 11th Century AD, Thor faced off with the Celestial-powered being called Apocalypse. Seeking revenge, Thor blessed Jarnbjorn with his own blood to imbue it with the power to pierce Celestial armor. 13th Century The Asgardian Fandral also claimed to have romanced a human woman named Marian, though with no known progeny, living on Earth in the region known as England as Robin Hood or at least being mistaken for him. 19th Century In the 1900's, Thor and Loki journeyed to Earth to the American West, meeting a time-traveling Black Panther. 20th Century 1940's In the 1940's, Loki opposed the Olympian deity Venus and invaded Mount Olympus. Thor aided Venus against Major John Dark, the Creeping Death, and the Sultan of Cassarobia . World War II At one point, Adolf Hitler succeeded in contacting Thor and deceived him into aiding the cause of the Germans, the descendants of the people who had once worshiped him, in the current war. Thor, therefore, clashed with the Invaders and nearly killed the second Union Jack with a blast of lightning from his enchanted hammer. Learning that Hitler was evil, Thor vowed to aid him no more and withdrew most of the electricity in Union Jack's body back into his hammer, somehow restoring him to health in the process. The second Union Jack now possessed the superhuman power to discharge electrical bolts from his body. In the 1960's, Thor again came to Venus' aid. Modern Era In later years, the Asgardians would be threatened by more menaces and threats from both within and beyond their own dimension. Seth, the Egyptian god of death and misfortune, eventually invaded Asgard and subjugated the Asgardians out of his animosity toward Odin and Thor, but he was defeated, only to return one more time and used Yggdrasill to strip the Asgardians of their godhood, but Odin had spells in effect that hid them as normal human beings upon Earth until Thor could restore them. Unfortunately, Thor had been trapped in another reality at this time, and the Asgardians were restored by Red Norvell acting in Thor's absence. Although the Asgardians survived, the ordeal left them ill-equipped to battle the Dark Gods, alien entities from another dimension, who laid siege to Asgard and were finally routed by Thor on his return. End of Ragnarok Odin eventually sought a way to stall or trick the cycles of Ragnarok, hoping each time that it would be the last. Finally, the destruction of Asgard came,Thor Volume 2 but his last Ragnarok was different from the previous ones in several respects. This time, Odin gave Thor the Odinpower and sacrificed himself for the last time in order to trap Surtur in the afterlife. With his new understanding of the cycle, Thor was able to confront Those Who Sit Above in Shadow and break the pattern, sending them into oblivion. His strength and force of will was enhanced by Odin was merging Thor with the persona of Donald Blake, a human doctor. The humanity and humility learned by Thor gave him the ability to finally end the cycle once and for all. Blake reappeared on Earth when Thor ended the cycle, and was able to convince Thor to return to Earth from the void of non-existence. The city of Asgard was rebuilt in Oklahoma and most Asgardians were restored to live, including more unsavory Asgardians such as Enchantress and Loki who was resurrected in a female body later revealed to have belonged to Sif. Now free to find their own destiny the Asgardians struggled to find their place on Midgard since Thor generally disliked them leaving Asgard for fear that they might bring harm unto themselves or others due to their inexperience with life on Midgard. Due to being unable to pass the time with battles and hunting as they had done on Asgard restlessness and fights broke out among the ranks of the Asgardians. Loki, in another of his plots released Bor Burison from his entrapment in a spell (which Loki himself had cast) and altered his perception so that he would see everything around him as demons and monsters. Thor confronted him, not knowing his grandfather and simply believing him to be a confused Asgardian. Bor in turn only saw a demon with traces of his sons powers. Believing Thor to have slain his son Odin, Bor immediately engaged him in battle. The battle was hard fought but after Bor began releasing enough energy to destroy all of Midgard, Thor was forced to kill him. Loki and Balder appeared and Loki informed Balder that Bor had technically been King of Asgard when Thor slew him and that the punishment for killing a king was banishment. Balder was forced to comply and banished Thor, becoming the King of Asgard in his place with Loki as his adviser. Balder accepted an invitation from Victor Von Doom to move the Asgardians to Latveria at the urging of Loki. Since Latveria greatly resembled Asgard, most Asgardians opted to leave the warm and unfamiliar Oklahoma in favor of Latveria. This was all part of a ruse on the part of Doom and Loki however since Doom planned to vivisect Asgardians in order to find out the secrets of their longevity and great power. After the Asgardians found out about Dooms vile experiments they managed to defeat him and the Asgardians returned to Oklahoma. Siege of Asgard During the Siege, it was revealed that this was all just a part of Loki's plans however. He manipulated Norman Osborn - head of H.A.M.M.E.R. and leader of the Avengers - to invade Asgard. Osborn rallied his forces and attacked Asgard, who were surprisingly successful due to the fact that the Asgardians were weaker on Midgard than they had been on Asgard. The Asgardians were helped by various heroes of Earth who tried to stop Osborn and his Dark Avengers. However what neither Loki nor the anyone else had counted on was the Sentry. After Osborn was captured by the Avengers he ordered the Sentry to destroy Asgard which he did. Seeing that his trickery had gone too far Loki prayed to Odin for help and used to Norn stones to empower all who fought on Asgard's side. He was ripped into pieces by the Sentry however who had lost all control and sanity and turned into his dark side, the Void. The heroes were eventually able to defeat the Void however and Thor dropped his body into the sun. With Asgard destroyed, the Asgardians went about rebuilding it and as a reward for the help they had received from the heroes of Earth, the Asgardians vowed to always be there when Midgard needed them and Thor vowed that he would once again fight alongside the Avengers if called upon. Second War of the Serpent References Category:History Category:Asgard